1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a gaming system and a gaming machine, and may be applied, for example, to a gaming machine in which a plurality of denominations of money can be used as a unit gaming fee, and to a gaming system which includes a gaming machine of this kind as a constituent element.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are gaming machines in casinos, or the like, which have different unit gaming fees, the unit gaming fee being the smallest unit of the payment for playing one round of a game, and which also forms a reference for deciding the award amount in the event of a winning game result. The plurality of unit gaming fees (which may also be called “denominations”) are based on different denominations of money, such as 1 cent, 25 cent, 1 dollar, and the like. In a casino or the like, in general, gaming machines which use the same denomination of money for the unit gaming fee are installed in the same fixed area. Therefore, if a player wishes to play a game using a different denomination, then he or she must move to a different area. This movement of the player causes a decline in the operating rate of the gaming machines.
In view of this point, in the prior art, gaming machines have been introduced which allow one of a plurality of different unit gaming fees to be set in the same gaming machine (see U.S. Pat. No. 6,506,116).
However, in a gaming machine in which the unit gaming fee can be set, although the player is able to select the unit gaming fee, the game that he or she plays is the same. Therefore, a gaming machine offering an unpopular game will have a low operating rate, even if it is provided with a function for changing the unit gaming fee, and this is a significant problem from the viewpoint of the operator of the game arcade where the gaming machine is located.